Surprise! Here’s Proof That Medicare for All Is Doomed
Struggles to pass a modest measure on “surprise medical bills” show how powerless Congress is against the hospital lobby.
Let’s see about that.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
There’s a high-profile debate over health care playing out in the presidential race, and a lower-profile one taking place in Congress. Several Democratic presidential candidates are telling us that they are going to provide health care that is free at the point of service to all comers. In little-noticed congressional mark-ups, members of both parties are demonstrating why these promises will not be met.
The legislation under consideration is aimed at so-called surprise medical bills” – charges a patient assumes were covered by insurance but turn out not to have been. My family got one last year: The hospital where my wife delivered our son was in our insurer’s network, but an anesthesiologist outside the network assisted. The bill had four digits.